The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1887-09-30
THE PLAQUES OF INDIA.

The PLAQUES UF INDIA.
SOME OF THE ToRMENTs OF Ex-
iSTENcE IN THE ORIENT.
Guarding Against the Dangerous Influ-
ence of tho Sun-Keeping Cool-The
Plague of Servants-The Bearer and
the Ayah-NIusquitoes.
None but those who have become
parched and crisped by the desiccating
sun Of 1ndia-who have Travelled reeking
on the cracked and splintercd earth, be-
meath the great sky fixed ocean of molten
silver-can appreciate thoroughly the free,
broad, bracing freshness of a Californian
breeze. The surface of everything un-
sheltered is polished by the SUMS rays un-
til the eye becomes bleared with merely
doing its duty. The sleek backs and
wings of the thousand crows which twit
on the path shine like new rupees the
green leaves hang motionless and glisten
as the wavelets in the sea. Even the ma
tiyes, brought forth by parents who have
never known another land, have hugo
turbans over and round their heads, and
more particularly on that portion Of the
neck Immediately below the organ of
philoprogenitiveness, lest the sun SHOULD
smite them i'll his wrath. /"
Togunrd against the dangerous influence
of the sun man has sought out many in
ycntions. Carriages have double roofs;
hats arc built of pith and are ventilated by
a cunning cllpola i'll miniature ingeniously
implanted in the crown; parasols are gil
gantic wooden mushrooms, and garments
are of any substance that can possibly be
obtained, which, i'll weight and fiber. does
not exceed gossamer. The walls of the
houses are about three feet thick, veran-
daed and tcrraced round. The rooms are
halls worthy of containing the common
council of any small American mining
town. They are matted and not carpeted,
unless in some houses where appearances
are more studied than comfort. The glass
windows have each outer ones of wood,
similar to the Venitian ones SO prevalent
In Californian houses. These are closely
shut fourteen hours of the twenty-four.
Huge squares of matted straw are placed
before such openings as cannot be closed,
and it is the duty of servant to sprinkle
them with the coolest water obtainable ten
times an hour.
The motive is obvious. The hot wind
passing through the damp cusca is cooled
almost to welcome point and from a
scourge transferred by q simple device into
q refreshment. We live in the breath of
the punka, for all day and night SER
want stands by to fan us. If he halts for
ono second glow of feverish heat steals
over us, and the punka wallan submits
mutcly TO the castigation he deserves and
most inevitably gets. These poor wretchcs,
possessed, it may be, of more intellect than
brutes, but undoubtedly of less instinct
and sagacity, ply their monotonous occu-
pations like pieces of i'll fitting machinery.
They are certain to fall asleep unless re-
tained ut high pressure by the constant ap-
plication of horsewhp.
The second plague in life in India, fully
as monstrous us the first, is-servants.
Fake professional man whose income is
900 rupees, or $3.50, month. He does
not desire, in all probability, to domesti-
cate himself in the cheerless circle of a
boarding house community, where his alb
solute cost to the amiable landlady will
be about 20 rupees per month, on which
he is called every four weeks to pay 800
per cent. He therefore takes house and
becomes, he blindly imagines, "his own
master.n
The house is taken. 1t is situated in a
compound" which means in America
sits own ground" So spontaneous is
vegetation that ''mallee" (gardener is
Indispensable Let the masters tastes be
ever SO much inclined to till his own gar
den and rear rnaryels in botany and horti-
culture, the heat forbids him. The pay OF
the malice will vary between 6 and
rupees per month (S4). The next neces-
sary creature is the MATER or house
swccpcr-a man who always seems the
acme of devotedness and activity, but who
has really remarkably easy life Of gen
orally. His pay is equal to the mallee's.
The "bhestie," who may be met with in
the twelve signs of the zodiac under the
nomenclature of "Aquarius,'' is the serv-
ant to whom the tractable and sensitive
heart most inclines to be liberal. He fills
his muscock" "a sealskin) many times Il
day with pure water and replenishes the
bath. He fills the house buckets and del,
uges the carriage when it is being cleaned
Our gratitude, extreme as it is, goes nc
further than 6 rupees. Then comes the
table servants and the cook. Pursuing
the list VIC reach the ssirdarbeurer. .
This man trims the lamps and pulls the
punka, and does nothing else for the
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Another and even more important mar
Is the bearer. Say, old Indian of thirty
hot years standing, how often have you
blessed this man above all others? He is
valet, banker and general protector over
oil things you may possess; he wipes you
dry as tinder when you issue from youl
bath; he puts your hose on while you sit
OH chair in a reverie; he does the same
good turn for all the garments you desire
to don. He has your hat and gloves beau
tltully prepared for you; he takes charge
OF your floating capital in the way of any
odd rupees which you may happen te
leave i'll your discarded waistcoat, anG
you may safely trust him with thousand
He studies your every movement and re
places all mutilated buttons; in fact, he is
to great extent IL wife, and if you give
him full and valuable wardrobe to be
lord and master over us long as he may
stay i'll your service, you will find it undi
minished and precisely as you gave it.
If IL resident here is u married man liz
may, in the nature of things, be blessed
with household gods-each god needs al
"ayah." She is, of course, female ser
want, and the most troublesome, except
the syces, Of them all. The wages of al
ayah are very changeable and unf1xed
few under 10 rupees u month are of much
good, though some are obtainable at hall
that sum. Besides the regular ayah tc
the wife and each child there must be the
"matcranni." 1t is her business to dc
certain things which, If executed by the
others, would lose them their castes
To readers versed in the technicalities
of natural history the third plague Of
India will be recognizable by the name Of
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